The organizers of the 2023 Bob Picken Open Masters Bonspiel (the BOBSpiel) have announced the recipients of three junior development grants from the Bob Picken Legacy Fund.
Thanks to the participating teams and the event sponsors, the fund grew again in 2023. As a result, it is possible to present $500 grants to Junior programs in three Manitoba curling clubs. While the grants will draw down the fund slightly, it is anticipated that the program will continue for several more years along with the early-season bonspiel.
This year’s grant recipients are the junior programs in the Winkler, Elmwood and Portage Curling Clubs. WINKLER: A 15-week Grades 5-8 program with 32 curlers. An early season focus on skill development transitions into alternating practice weeks and game weeks later in the season. The grant will support on-ice equipment upgrades and to allow for develop of innovative ideas like a Triples FunSpiel. ELMWOOD: A Little Rocks (16 weeks) and Bantam & Junior (20 weeks) program with about 60 total curlers. Depending on age level, the focus is teaching the basics of the game, skill building and games. The grant will support replacement of club equipment such as short-ice hacks, acquisition of protective helmets for the little rockers, and training for volunteers. PORTAGE: Total numbers in the 90-100 range for Little Rocks (K – Grade 5), Junior (Grades 6-8) and High School curling programs in conjunction with the Portage School Division. The grant will support replacement of aging brushes and brush heads and acquisition of sliders. It will also support outreach activity including a developing plan for a Newcomers to Canada curling introduction.
With this year’s Bob Picken Legacy grants, a total of $6,000 has been provided by the bonspiel and by Manitoba’s Masters age curlers for junior development in Manitoba curling.
(CurlManitoba Release) With qualifying for the 2024 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts completed earlier this month, CurlManitoba has announced plans to stage the 2025 championship in Pilot Mound’s Millennium Recreation Complex.
The Pilot Mound host committee, chaired by Jackie McCannell, will be particularly interested in the 2024 event as the champion will become the first team to qualify for what will be the first Manitoba curling championship ever staged in the south-central Manitoba community.
“The Manitoba championship’s new 12-team format has given us the opportunity to bring the event to new communities which have never hosted before. We are pleased to be adding Pilot Mound to the list of Manitoba towns hosting one of our arena championships for the first time,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker.
“It is special to give curling fans in this great curling community a chance to watch their favorite sport in an arena setting close to home.”
The Manitoba Women’s Championship presented by RME will take place in Pilot Mound, January 21-26, 2025.
Speaking on behalf of the host committee, Co-Chair Jackie McCannell says she is looking forward to the excitement the announcement is going to create in the Pilot Mound Curling Club and in the extended community.
“From experience attending other events and talking with organizers in other communities, we know that hosting the championships provides benefits beyond the curling club,” McCannell says.
‘We know there are many curling fans who are no longer active curlers, and many community supporters who may not even be curlers or curling fans. Working together to stage a successful event is important for community image and community pride. We are eager to get started on the preparations.”
Pilot Mound’s arena joins East St. Paul (2023), Carberry (2022), Rivers (2019), Eric Coy-Charleswood (2017), and Winkler (2015) arenas as first-time arena championship host venues in the past nine years. There was no championship due to Covid in 2021. The 2018 event was the second hosted by Gimli. Beausejour, which hosted in 2016, had previously hosted a provincial men’s championship in their arena.
The 2024 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts presented by RME will take place January 23-28, 2024 in Morden.
Head protection is a good idea for beginning curlers and for those of us who are maybe “a day or two past our prime”. Three different types of head protection were on display in a recent stick-league game at Winnipeg’s Fort Rouge CC.
Norm Magnusson, Manitoba Stick Curling Association’s Chief Clinician, always opens an introductory stick curling session with an emphasis on safety, including a recommendation that “curlers of a certain age” should be thinking about head protection. He has taken his own advice by always wearing his choice of head gear.
Baseball cap with back-of-head protection, soccer-rugby helmet, and full helmet: we all hope we never prove their effectiveness.
The three different types of headwear being used on this day were Asham’s full helmet (right) worn by Dale Gray; the Goldline baseball cap with back-of-head protection (left) worn by Resby Coutts; and a soccer-rugby helmet (centre) worn by Magnusson.
The Goldline head-gear also comes in a headband, visor, and toque version. The writer has been wearing the baseball cap since Goldline began development over a decade ago.
Dale Gray began wearing his helmet “about three years ago”. Earlier he had taken a fall on the ice and began thinking about head protection. Later, after suffering a broken ankle, he adopted the helmet to ensure his safety on the ice while the strength in the ankle recovered. He has never taken it off (during curling games, that is).
Norm Magnusson likes his soccer-rugby helmet for head protection
Magnusson, who admits he is “not a hat guy”, had used the visor version of the Goldline hat for a few years when he was introduced to the soccer-rugby helmet at the Canadian Stick Championship in Moncton in 2022 by Jean Lamere of Quebec. He likes the feel of this helmet and the full head protection which it provides.
The point here is not to promote any of these options as favoured, and certainly not to promote them as favoured over other products from other suppliers. The point, simply, is to encourage every curler and especially every curler “of a certain age” to think about head protection.
Those of us wearing these hats and helmets are not yet in the majority in the stick leagues, or among older players in traditional leagues, but our numbers are increasing.
It worked out in the second game of the day for Zoey Terrick (Heather) and Rachel Kaatz (AMCC). The two teams had lost the A-Side Scotties berth games Sunday morning but both bounced back to win berths on their second try.
Team Kaatz will be in Morden in January, thanks to a 7-5 win over Katy Lukowich (Heather) while the Terrick foursome posted a 12-3 short game win over Shae Bevan (St Vital).
(SUNDAY EARLY AFTERNOON) CHERWINSKI, JENSEN WIN SCOTTIES BERTHS: A comeback from five down and a “nearly” comeback from down two playing the last end made the Winnipeg Scotties regional playoff games great curling entertainment Sunday morning at Deer Lodge.
Trailing 6-1 after four ends, Emily Cherwinksi and her AMCC team scored three to draw close, and then outscored Rachel Kaatz (AMCC) 4-1 over the last half of the game to win 8-7 and earn a berth in the Manitoba Scotties in Morden.
The key was no doubt the seventh end. The Kaatz team blanked six and played a hit for three but jammed to give up another steal of one. Now down one, the Cherwinski foursome stole two more on the 8th, gave up the one on the 9th to come home tied. They didn’t have to throw their last stone on the 10th.
(l-r) Emily Jensen, Lane Prokopowich, Becky Friesen, Stephanie Feeleus
In the other game, Emily Jensen (Heather) led Zoey Terrick (Heather) 6-4 playing the ninth (and final) end. Playing wide on a tricky sheet of ice, Terrick had and angle raise takeout for a possible three and the win but she hit less of the target stone than needed and scored only one.
Two more Scotties berths will be awarded at Deer Lodge in games beginning at 2PM.
Yesterday, Tiffany Armstrong (Dauphin) and Shaela Hayward (Carman) won the first two spots awarded this weekend.
<><><><>
(FRIDAY) REGIONAL SCOITTIES SET FOR THIS WEEKEND: Six teams repping three Winnipeg clubs will compete in Winnipeg regional Scotties playoffs at Deer Lodge this weekend. They will be playing for one of four available entries into the provincial Scotties in Morden.
Elsewhere in the province 2 teams will be playing in Clearwater for a berth. Two more will play in Dauphin for the sixth available berth this weekend.
As in the men’s championship, the provincial champions berth in Morden was vacated when the Jennifer Jones team was named as a pre-qualified team in the national Scotties. Entries into the Morden event have already been awarded to: ** Kristy Watling (Berth Spiel) ** Kaitlyn Lawes (CTRS) ** Beth Peterson (CTRS) ** Kate Cameron (CTRS) ** Jolene Campbell (MCT) ** Lisa McLeod (MCT)
Scott Bruce, Josh Claeys, & Steen Sigurdson won with three as Scott Peterson had family duties.
(UPDATED) Steen Sigurdson (Deer Lodge), Hayden Forrester (Fort Rouge), Darren Perche (Charleswood) and Devon Wiebe (Charleswood) have won the four remaining Winnipeg Viterra Berths while Jeremy Sundell (Holland) has won the first of the available berths in Clearwater.
Sundell will skip the first provincial entry from Holland in many years after a shutout Sunday morning win over Dean North, Carman.
The Sigurdson victory over Travis Bale (Ft Rouge) came down to the final stone. Bale had made a hit past a centre guard, facing two, to score a single on the ninth end and come home tied 4-4. Sigurdson was able to keep the front clear on the tenth and when Bale slid too deep with his last rock, Sigurdson had a last stone draw to backing for the 5-4 win.
Darren Perche’s team includes brothers Jason, Shane & Bryce and Stuart Clinton.
The two Charleswood teams both had short games Sunday. Darren Perche and his brothers were up 6-2 playing the seventh end. Facing three, Brad Micholson (Deer Lodge) was unable to navigate a narrow port and the steal ended the game at 9-2.
Devon Wiebe and his team, led Mike Siwicki (Granite) 5-0 playing the sixth and a steal of two more ended that game.
Forrester, skipping the Cyrus Brandt entry, posted a five on the sixth end to eliminate Richard Muntain (St Vital).
Hayden Forrester, Cyrus Brandt, Brennan Sampson, Gabriel Brandt
Devon Wiebe’s team includes Thomas Dunlop, Julien Leduc, Zack Bilawka, and Brandon Radford
The Brandon and Dauphin curling clubs both gained a second entrant for Stonewall in the third game played in each of the two playoffs.
In Virden, Steve Irwin (Brandon) defeated Kelly Marnoch (Carberry) 6-5. Irwin joins Cale Dunbar.
In Gimli, Justin Richter (Beausejour) beat Wayne Ewasko (Beausejour) 9-6
In Clearwater, Dean North (Carman) defeated Mitch Titchkosky (Morden) 7-6 and Jesse Janz (Baldur) bested Ryan Hyde (Portage) 9-4.
(SATURDAY) BLANCHARD-BLANCHARD WIN VITERRA BERTH: The father-son combo of Greg & Derek Blanchard, following a long tradition of dad calling the game & throwing first while son throw the finals stones, have won an invitation to compete in the Viterra Championship in Stonewall in February.
Playing on a team listed as Joey Witherspoon (AMCC) but with Dan Gagne and Taylor McIntyre on the ice for the berth win, the Blanchard team gave up a four early but fought back to steal one on the ninth to take a 6-5 lead over Travis Bale (Ft Rouge).
Blanchard (the younger) made a last rock draw to bite the button coming home. It was a straight spot in the ice and Bale needed to squeak past a centre line guard to nose the counter straight back past a rock of his own in the back four foot circle. It didn’t curl up enough and Blanchard stole another for a 7-5 berth win.
Also at Deer Lodge, Daniel Birchard with long time teammates Kelly Fordyce and Andrew Peck posted an 8-3 berth win over Darren Perche (Charleswood). Brody Moore, nursing a sore knee provided moral support from the seating lobby.
(l-r) Andrew Peck, Brody Moore, Kelly Fordyce, Daniel Birchard – Pembina
A third Winnipeg berth was awarded Saturday as well. Thomas McGillivary (St. Vital) beat Devon Wiebe (Charleswood) 10-6 in that berth game.
In Virden, Jace Freeman-Virden (7-6 over Kelly Marnoch-Carberry) and Cale Dunbar-Brandon (8-5 over Steve Irwin-Brandon) won the two berths available Saturday.
In Dauphin, Greg Todoruk-Dauphin (9-4 over Kyle Forsyth-Dauphin) and Jeff Stewart-Gladstone (7-6 over Glenn Toews-Dauphin) won berths.
In LaSalle, Mark Lowdon-LaSalle beat Randy Neufeld-LaSalle 9-6 and 7-5 to win the best of three berth playoff.
In Gimli, Emerson Klimpke-Stonewall (9-3 over Justin Richter-Beausejour) and Justin Reynolds-Winnipeg Beach (7-2 over Wayne Ewasko-Beausejour) won two of the available Interlake berths.
All three berths in the playoff at Clearwater will be won on Sunday along with the final berth in Virden, Dauphin and Beausejour and four more at Deer Lodge.
With a blue stone to come, and then the final red stone, the Blanchard team took a lot of time trying to figure out how to keep red from counting all four of those stones. No luck as all four counted
(CORRECTION): A couple of sharp-eyed readers advised me that I erred in one of the Virden results in the article posted last evening. Jace Freeman, in fact, defeated Kelly Marnoch to win one of the berths available in Western Manitoba. The listing in the article has been corrected!)
The father-son combo of Greg & Derek Blanchard, following a long tradition of dad calling the game & throwing first while son throw the finals stones, have won an invitation to compete in the Viterra Championship in Stonewall in February.
Playing on a team listed as Joey Witherspoon (AMCC) but with Dan Gagne and Taylor McIntyre on the ice for the berth win, the Blanchard team gave up a four early but fought back to steal one on the ninth to take a 6-5 lead over Travis Bale (Ft Rouge).
Blanchard (the younger) made a last rock draw to bite the button coming home. It was a straight spot in the ice and Bale needed to squeak past a centre line guard to nose the counter straight back past a rock of his own in the back four foot circle. It didn’t curl up enough and Blanchard stole another for a 7-5 berth win.
Also at Deer Lodge, Daniel Birchard with long time teammates Kelly Fordyce and Andrew Peck posted an 8-3 berth win over Darren Perche (Charleswood). Brody Moore, nursing a sore knee provided moral support from the seating lobby.
(l-r) Andrew Peck, Brody Moore, Kelly Fordyce, Daniel Birchard – Pembina
A third Winnipeg berth was awarded Saturday as well. Thomas McGillivary (St. Vital) beat Devon Wiebe (Charleswood) 10-6 in that berth game.
In Virden, Jace Freeman-Virden (7-6 over Kelly Marnoch-Carberry) and Cale Dunbar-Brandon (8-5 over Steve Irwin-Brandon) won the two berths available Saturday.
In Dauphin, Greg Todoruk-Dauphin (9-4 over Kyle Forsyth-Dauphin) and Jeff Stewart-Gladstone (7-6 over Glenn Toews-Dauphin) won berths.
In LaSalle, Mark Lowdon-LaSalle beat Randy Neufeld-LaSalle 9-6 and 7-5 to win the best of three berth playoff.
In Gimli, Emerson Klimpke-Stonewall (9-3 over Justin Richter-Beausejour) and Justoin Reynolds-Winnipeg Beach (7-2 over Wayne Ewasko-Beausejour) won two of the available Interlake berths.
All three berths in the playoff at Clearwater will be won on Sunday along with the final berth in Virden, Dauphin and Beausejour and four more at Deer Lodge.
<><><><><>
In Scotties Regionals Tiffany Armstrong (Dauphin) won a pair of games over Terry Ursel (Arden-Landowne) and Shaela Hayward (Carman) won two over Rhonda Varnes (Manitou) to win the first two berths awarded this weekend.
Four berths will be assigned Sunday at Deer Lodge with two games at 10AM and two at 2pm.
Dave Boehmer and his Team Manitoba scored an 8-5 win over Mike Kennedy (NB) to win the bronze medal game Saturday afternoon in Vernon. The gold medal was won by Paul Flemming and his Nova Scotians with a 4-3 win over Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte.
Dave Boehmer, Dale Lott, Sean Bracken, George Hacking, Scott Szydlik with their Everest Seniors Bronze medals. Photo: Curling Canada/Wayne Emde
The Women’s gold medal game was won by Ontario (10-4 over Saskatchewan) while the bronze medal went to BC (7-3 over Alberta).
(Saturday AM) TEAM BOEHMER’S TO PLAY FOR BRONZE MEDAL: Team Manitoba lost 7-1 in 6 ends Saturday morning to Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte, dropping Dave Boehmer’s Petersfield team into the afternoon Bronze medal game against New Brunswick. Mike Kennedy’s NB team lost to first place Paul Flemming (Nova Scotia).
In the Women’s Everest Seniors, Saskatchewan will also play for the Gold medal, against Ontario. Alberta and BC will play in the Bronze medal game.
Team Boehmer photo: Curling Canada/Wayne Emde
(Friday late) TEAM BOEHMER’S 8TH WIN PUTS THEM IN THE MEDAL ROUND: An extra end steal for a 5-4 win over Prince Edward Island has given Dave Boehmer’s Manitoba team an 8W-2L record and a berth in the Canadian Seniors medal round Saturday.
At the same time, Nova Scotia’s Paul Flemming was beating Bruce Korte (SK), meaning the two also finished with 8W-2L records. Flemming beat both Manitoba and Saskatchewan so Nova Scotia was assigned first place. Manitoba beat Saskatchewan so the Petersfield team was assigned second place in the standings.
Manitoba will play Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia will play New Brunswick in the semifinals Saturday morning. The winners play for the gold medal and the losers for the bronze Saturday afternoon.
Boehmer’s Manitobans were the only team in the men’s event to won all four of their championship round games. Flemming and New Brunswick’s Mike Kennedy both won three of four games while Korte had a split in his four games.
In the Senior women’s championship, Joelle Brown’s Manitobans finished with a record of 5W-5L after a final game loss to Northwest Territories.
Saskatchewan (9W-1L) plays BC (7W-3L) while Alberta (7W-3L) plays Ontario (also 7W-3L).
(Friday Afternoon) TEAM BOEHMER WINS 3 IN A ROW, POISED TO ADVANCE: Manitoba’s Dave Boehmer team has won three in a row to improve their record to 7W-2L at the Everest Seniors in Vernon.
After finishing the preliminary round with a 4W-2L record, the Petersfield foursome has improved to 7W-2L and now sits tied for second with a game to play this evening.
Bruce Korte’s Saskatchewan team leads the way with an 8W-1L record; their only loss came at the hands of Manitoba Thursday evening. They have also beaten British Columbia and Newfoundland-Labrador in the championship round. Their final game in this round will be Friday evening against Prince Edward Island, whose record currently sits at 4W-5L.
Behind Saskatchewan in first place, Manitoba is tied with Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
A win over PEI will assure Manitoba of advancing to the Saturday medal round. Even with a loss, they very well could advance – depending, of course, on the results by the other &W-2L teams.
In the Women’s division, Joelle Brown’s Charleswood team has a 5W-4L record after winning two of three games so far in the championship round. Their final game this evening is against Northwest Territories who are also at 5W-4L.
Only Saskatchewan at 8W-1L and Ontario at 7W-2L are assured of advancing to the medal rounds. They play each other this evening.
Among the other six teams, who play each other this evening, there is a possible five-way tie for third place with a 6W-4L record. Team Brown must win to be a part of that and then hope that the tiebreaker system works to their advantage.
At risk of being the old guy who is always talking about ‘the good old days’, it is a little sad to me that regional Viterra playoffs will be played this weekend in five Manitoba locations for 20 provincial berths …. and there are only 36 teams playing.
Eleven teams will play at Deer Lodge for seven entries to the provincial Viterra championship in Stonewall; six teams in Dauphin and another six in Virden will play for three berths in each venue; five teams will play for three berths in Clearwater; and two teams will play for one berth in LaSalle.
The Manitoba champions’ berth at the Viterra in Stonewall will be vacant with Team Dunstone already qualified for the Brier.
It is fair to say the teams know that the 2024 provincial champion has probably already qualified for the Stonewall event where there will be a new champion crowned. The champion’s berth owned by Matt Dunstone’s team was vacated with Dunstone earning a wildcard entry to the Brier.
Pre-determined entries in Stonewall are already in the hands of seven teams, including: ** Reid Carruthers (CTRS end 2023 season) ** Ryan Wiebe (CTRS current season) ** Brett Walter (Berth Spiel) ** Braden Calvert (MCT) ** Jordon McDonald (MCT) ** Sean Grassie (MCT) ** Riley Smith (MCT) ** Grant Brown (single entry North region)
Three entries from the Manitoba Open Bonspiel and one from the Brandon Bonspiel will round out the field of 32.
Inevitable now is the conversation about change of format for the provincial men’s championship. Less than two entries for each available berth suggests the tipping point on that conversation has been reached.
Not so long ago I argued strongly for maintaining the model because the opportunity to compete at the provincial championship, on arena ice, was still an incentive for Manitoba curlers to compete in regionals – and providing that incentive was keeping people active in their curling clubs.
It is fair to say that the Curling Clubs Championship is now succeeding in providing that incentive for some competitors who used to be automatic regional entries, and contenders at the provincial men’s. As a result, those teams are by-passing the men’s regionals.
So the conversation is one that CurlManitoba must begin – the issues are not so much the timing, the number of entries or possible formats. The issue will be the unintended consequences of change.
For instance, will it make sense to host a reduced size men’s championship in an arena? – or does the decision start a movement toward a club based provincial championship? For instance, what will the effect be on sponsorship? – will a smaller event be less attractive to a sponsor?
On the other side of the discussion – there is a pretty high percentage of relatively (to very) young teams competing in the regionals this weekend. For them, the incentive of competing at the provincial men’s is no doubt, for some, a stepping stone to the future, and for others an incentive to continue to compete while there is a still a small chance of winning that dreamed about trip to the Brier.
Maybe the discussion is not about size of provincial championship & number of berths. Maybe the discussion should be about inventing new ways of allocating the provincial berths.
Would we ever consider assigning provincial men’s berths to the final four in the provincial juniors? the final four in the provincial seniors? the final four in the provincial club championships? There’s 12 berths right there – reducing to 20 the number of berths to compete for into a 32 team men’s.
A crazy concept? I’ve been accused of having them before. It would add 12 quality teams with a strong following to help fill the stands and the hospitality room at the provincial championship
I’d bet it would also increase participation in those three other levels but what would be the unintended consequences – the thing about brain-storming new ways to do something is that it is easy to suggest change. The problem comes when you start to figure out how to do it – or more importantly, if you should.
Team Jones is pre-qualified for the national Scotties so will not be competing in the provincial Scotties in Morden
Six teams repping three Winnipeg clubs will compete in Winnipeg regional Scotties playoffs at Deer Lodge this weekend. They will be playing for one of four available entries into the provincial Scotties in Morden.
Elsewhere in the province 2 teams will be playing in Clearwater for a berth. Two more will play in Dauphin for the sixth available berth this weekend.
As in the men’s championship, the provincial champions berth in Morden was vacated when the Jennifer Jones team was named as a pre-qualified team in the national Scotties. Entries into the Morden event have already been awarded to: ** Kristy Watling (Berth Spiel) ** Kaitlyn Lawes (CTRS) ** Beth Peterson (CTRS) ** Kate Cameron (CTRS) ** Jolene Campbell (MCT) ** Lisa McLeod (MCT)
Manitoba’s Senior champion teams have both advanced to the championship round of the Everest Seniors in Vernon, BC. They’ll each play two games today and two tomorrow – striving to reach the Saturday playoff round
In the Men’s, Dave Boehmer’s Petersfield team finished the preliminary round with 4W-2L record – behind Paul Flemming’s Nova Scotia team (5W-1L) and tied with Quebec and New Brunswick. Saskatchewan’s Bruce Korte was the only unbeaten Men’s team. They topped the other pool at 6W-0L, followed by BC (5W-1L), PEI (4W-2L), and Newfoundland-Labrador (3W-3L).
In the Women’s, Joelle Brown’s Charleswood team finished at 3W-3L, in fourth place behind Ontario and Quebec (both 5W-1L) and Nova Scotia (4W-2L). Saskatchewan’s champions are also undefeated on the Women’s side, followed by BC (5W-1L), Alberta (4W-2L), and NWT (3W-3L).
Team Brown photo: Curling Canada/Wayne Emde
The teams carry forward their records and add to it in games against the four teams from the other pool. The objective for both teams is to finish at least fourth to qualify for the playoff round: # 1 plays #4 and #2 plays #3 in the semifinals with the winners playing for the gold medal and the losers playing for the bronze.
thecurler.com 